HomeMy WebLinkAboutres2021-003• Whatcom County COUNTY COURTHOUSE
311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105
Bellingham, WA 98225-4038
(360) 778-5010
Agenda Bill Master Report
File Number: AB2021-013
File ID: AB2021-013 Version: 1 Status: Approved
File Created: 12/22/2020 Entered by: TAdrian@co.whatcom.wa.us
Department: Prosecuting File Type: Resolution
Attorney's Office
Assigned to: Council Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee Final Action: 01/12/2021
Agenda Date: 01/12/2021 Enactment#: RES 2021-003
Primary Contact Email: tadr•ian i co.whatcom.wa.us <mailto:tadrian i cco.whatcom.wa.us>
TITLE FOR AGENDA ITEM:
Resolution adopting Whatcom County policy on indigent defense per RCW 10.101.030 and WCC
2.09
SUMMARY STATEMENT OR LEGAL NOTICE LANGUAGE:
Resolution adopting Whatcom County policy on indigent defense per RCW 10.101.030 and WCC
2.09.
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE FILE
Date: Acting Body: Action: Sent To:
01/12/2021 Council Criminal Justice and Public RECOMMENDED FOR
Safety Committee APPROVAL
Aye: 3 Buchanan, Byrd, and Frazey
Nay: 0
Absent: 0
01/12/2021 Council APPROVED
Aye: 7 Browne, Buchanan, Byrd, Frazey, Elenbaas, Kershner, and Donovan
Nay: 0
Absent: 0
Attachments: Resolution adopting Public Defender Indigent Defense policy
Whatcom County Page 1 Printed on 111312021
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PROPOSED BY: Whatcom County Public Defender
INTRODUCTION DATE: January 12, 2021
RESOLUTION NO. 2021-003
Adopting County Policy regarding Indigent defense pursuant to certain portions of
RCW 10.101, and Washington State court rule.
WHEREAS, RCW 10.101.030 requires counties to adopt standards that include:
compensation of counsel, duties and responsibilities of counsel, case load limits and types of
cases, responsibility for expert witness fees and other costs associated with representation,
administrative expenses, support services, reports of attorney activity and vouchers,
training, supervision, monitoring and evaluation of attorneys, substitution of attorneys or
assignment of contracts, limitations on private practice of contract attorneys, qualifications
of attorneys, disposition of client complaints, cause for termination of contract or removal of
attorney, and nondiscrimination.
WHEREAS, WCC 2.09 currently set standards of indigent defense services relating
to the Whatcom County Public Defender's office as prescribed by RCW 10.101;
WHEREAS, Whatcom County maintains a centralized hub for the assignment of
indigent defense services via the Whatcom County Office of Assigned Counsel. Indigent
defense services are provided through three distinct sources: the Public Defender's office,
contract with private attorneys to provide indigent defense services, and maintenance of
panel of private attorneys that may be appointed to provide indigent defense services. The
Policy adopted herein shall be of equal application to all forms of indigent defense service
provided within the scope of cases assigned by the Whatcom County Office of Assigned
Counsel;
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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Whatcom County Council that
Whatcom County policy regarding indigent defense services be hereby adopted as shown in
the attached Exhibit A.
ADO P_TED'tHfs,I?rth day of January
�c,Troc))d vC�
n
ATTEST:
Dana°Brown-Dads, Cr6Ek-'ot the Council
��
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Approved by Chris Quinn via email / LB
Civil Deputy Prosecutor
2021,
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
TCOM TY, ASHINGTON
bar(�PEhanafi, Council Chair
EXHIBIT A
WHATCOM COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDER'S OFFICE
CASE WEIGHTING POLICY
Rev. 4/21/2020
1.0 PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to adopt and publish a uniform system for
weighting cases when applying mandatory and advisory numerical caseload
standards for attorneys employed by the Whatcom County Public
Defenders Office in the Superior, Juvenile, and District Courts of Whatcom
County. This policy only applies for purposes of calculating attorney
caseloads under the Washington Supreme Court Standards for Indigent
Defense and does not apply for the purposes of compensation.
This policy will assist the court, Public Defender's Office, and the Office of
Assigned Counsel in managing case appointments and caseloads in
accordance with applicable caseload standards.
This policy recognizes that the appropriate use of case weighting and case
counting is to allow reasonable workloads for public defense attorneys
consistent with current workload conditions and consistent with applicable
rules, standards, and performance guidelines.
2.0 APPLICABLE COURT RULES, STANDARDS, AND LAWS
2.1 Washington State Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys.
2.2 Washington State Supreme Court standards for attorneys appointed
to represent persons at public expense under court rules CrR 3.1,
CrRU 3.1, JuCR 9.2.
2.3 Washington State Bar Association "Standards for Indigent Defense
Services."
2.4 Washington State Bar Association "Performance Guidelines for
Criminal Defense Representation."
2.5 RCW Ch. 10.101.
2.6 Chapter 2.09 WCC.
3.0 DEFINITIONS
3.1 CASE. The filing of a document with the court, naming a person as
defendant or respondent, to which an attorney is appointed in order
to provide constitutionally mandated legal representation.
a. The definition of a case is not impacted by number of counts
contained in a single cause number.
b. When multiple charges or counts arise from a singular set of
facts, the case weighted credit will be determined by the most
serious charge or count alleged.
C. In courts of limited jurisdiction multiple citations from the
same set incident can and will be counted as one "case."
3.2 CASE WEIGHT. The numerical multiplier assigned by this policy to
apply to specific types of cases to generally recognize the greater or
lesser attorney workload required for those cases compared to an
average case under a numerical caseload standard.
3.3 CASE CREDIT. The weight value of a particular case type in the
general case weighting system adopted by this policy or in a
particular case as actually assigned to a particular attorney.
3.4 WCPDO. Whatcom County Public Defender's Office.
3.5 CASELOAD. The collection of cases in which an attorney is appointed
or designated to provide constitutionally mandated legal services to
clients in a calendar year.
3.6 DOCKET or CALENDAR. A grouping of filings where a public defense
attorney is designated.
3.7 FULL TIME. It is presumed that a full time public defense attorney
spends approximately 1,800 hours annually on client representation.
It is expected that other work time is spent on administrative
activities, CLE attendance, participation in professional associations
and committees, vacations, holidays, and sick leave.
3.8 NON -CHARGE REPRESENTATION. Matters where public defense
attorneys represent clients who are eligible for public defense
representation for matters that do not involve the filing of new
criminal charges (i.e., material witness, diversion advice, or sentence
violations).
3.9 PARTIAL REPRESENTATIONS. Situations where clients are charged
with crimes and a public defense attorney is appointed and
representation is shortened or delayed (see Section 5.0 Partial
Representation).
3.10 PUBLIC DEFENSE ATTORNEY. A licensed attorney who is employed
by the WCPDO or contracted by the WCPDO to represent indigent
defendants.
3.11 SUPERIOR COURT CASES. This refers to cases in which a person is
charged with a crime in Superior Court.
3.12 DISTRICT COURT CASES. This refers to cases in which a person is
charged with a crime in District Court.
3.13 JUVENILE COURT CASES. This refers to offender and truancy cases
involving children in the Juvenile Division of Superior Court.
4.0 SCOPE OF REPRESENTATION
Matters included in the scope of representation as set forth below shall not
receive any additional case weighed credit beyond that which is already assigned
to the case:
4.1 The scope of representation in an appointed case is from the date of
assignment through all subsequent stages of the legal proceedings in
the trial court until entry of final judgment together with the
necessary preparation, filing and/or entry of notice of appeal and
motions/orders for finding of indigency and appointment of counsel
on appeal.
4.2 In criminal and juvenile offender cases, the scope of representation
in the case also includes (1) restitution hearings requested or noted
while the court retains jurisdiction over the case and (2) motions for
relief from judgment that are requested while the court retains
jurisdiction over the case.
4.3 In district court and juvenile offender cases, the scope of
representation in the case spans from initial appearance until the
end of any probationary period imposed as part of a sentence.
4.4 Except as noted above, the scope of representation does not extend
to other post judgment motions for relief from judgment and/or
"collateral attack" under court rule or as defined in RCW Ch. 10.73.
4.5 The scope of representation in a case includes any failures to appear
by the client and interim inactivity of the case for that reason, which
will neither reduce nor add to the credit assigned to the case if the
previously appointed attorney is later appointed or assigned to
complete the case on reappearance of the client. Provided, if the
interval between the failure to appear and reappearance is greater
than twelve months, the reassignment is presumptively a new case
unless adjusted by the Chief Deputy/Director.
4.6 The scope of representation in a case includes future review hearings
in the case scheduled at the time of entry of diversion, deferred
disposition, deferred prosecution, or sentencing, plus any
subsequent proceedings thereon if ordered.
4.7 The scope of representation in a case includes proceedings on the
original case after termination from therapeutic court without
successful completion. Cases reassigned to the Drug Court attorney
do not count as a case credit, rather the Drug Court attorney receives
calendar credit as discussed in 5.5.1.
4.8 The scope of representation includes any limited proceedings on
remand from appeal if the same attorney is appointed for that
purpose, but does not include remands for new trial.
4.9 The scope of representation does not include alleged violations of a
prior sentence or disposition.
4.10 The scope of representation in a truancy contempt petition includes
all subsequent review hearings or warrants for that petition.
5.0 PARTIAL REPRESENTATION
5.1 Partial Representations — no contact with client. Cases where the
assigned attorney has only had incidental contact with the client
before transfer or dismissal will not receive any credit.
5.2 Partial Representations — transfer or dismissal. Cases where only a
partial representation occurs because the attorney withdraws for a
conflict, is relieved by retained counsel, the case is transferred or
reassigned by the court or Chief Deputy/Director, or the case is
dismissed on motion of the prosecution can be assigned a weighted
case credit by the Chief Deputy/Director consistent with these
policies for the case but only up to the maximum weighted credit
otherwise allowed.
5.3 New Attorney in Partial Representations. If a different attorney is
appointed or assigned after a partial representation by a different
attorney the new attorney will be assigned full credit if appointed or
assigned prior to trial or plea of guilty in the case.
5.4 Temporary Coverage of Limited Hearings. The temporary coverage
of a limited hearing or appearance in a case by another attorney due
to short term unavailability of appointed attorney will not be
counted as a case and no case credit will be added or subtracted to
the number of cases or credits for either attorney.
5.5 Therapeutic Court Calendar Credits. When an attorney is assigned
to represent groups of clients in therapeutic courts, the attorney's
maximum caseload should be reduced proportionally by the amount
of time they spend on preparing for and appearing at such calendars.
5.5.1 Drug Court Calendar Credit. The drug court attorney's
maximum caseload should be reduced by 1.25 adult felony case
credits monthly (15 case credits annually) or 2.0 juvenile case credits
monthly (24 case credits annually).
5.5.2 Mental Health Court Calendar Credit. The mental health court
attorney's maximum caseload should be reduced by .75 adult felony
case credits monthly (9 case credits annually), or 2.0 adult
misdemeanor case credits monthly (24 case credits annually).
5.6 Representation at First Appearance, Arraignment, and Probation
Violation Dockets. Regardless of the case counting and weighting
system adopted by this policy, the following special limitations apply:
5.6.1 Resolutions of cases by pleas of guilty to criminal
charges on a first appearance or arraignment docket are
presumed to be rare occurrences requiring careful evaluation
of the evidence and the law, as well as thorough
communication with clients, and must be counted as one case.
The resolution of a case at first appearance as an infraction
shall not be counted as a "case" but rather is credited within
the time allocated to recurring calendars without continued
representation.
5.6.2 Cases on a criminal or offender first appearance,
arraignment, warrant return, sentence review, or probation
violation docket where the attorney is designated, appointed,
or contracted to represent groups of clients on that docket
without expectation of further or continuing representation
will not be counted directly. Instead, the attorney's hours
needed for appropriate client contact and preparation as well
as the appearance time spent on such dockets will be
calculated by the Chief Deputy/Director and then applied to
reduce the attorney's caseload standard for the time for the
work devoted to such representation.
6.0 NUMERICAL CASELOAD STANDARDS
6.1 The caseload of a full-time public defense attorney or assigned
counsel should not exceed the following:
6.1.1 Superior Court Adult Felony Cases: 150 case credits per
attorney per year.
6.1.2 Juvenile Offender Cases: 250 case credits per attorney per
year.
6.1.3 District Court Cases: 400 case credits per attorney per year.
6.1.4 Involuntary Commitment Proceedings: 250 case credits per
attorney per year.
6.2 General considerations in applying numerical standards:
6.2.1 Caseload limits reflect the maximum caseloads for fully
supported, full-time defense attorneys for cases of average
complexity and effort in each case type specified.
6.2.2 If a public defender or assigned counsel is carrying a mixed
caseload including cases from more than one category of
cases, these standards should be applied proportionally to
determine a full caseload.
6.2.3 A small upward variation in annual caseload and a variation in
monthly caseload are consistent with the workload limits
inherent in the numerical caseload standards while allowing
for the inherent variability of caseload and the inherent
difficulty of precise administration. Such variations may be
expected to occur without violating this policy or the numerical
caseload standards and such variations shall not preclude
attorneys from filing Certificates of Compliance.
6.2.4 The assigned attorney may request that the Chief
Deputy/Director adjust the credit assigned upwards for
substantial work or "extraordinary cases" in which the credit
assigned does not adequately reflect the complexity or time
and effort involved in the representation. Should calendar
credits, including those assigned for therapeutic courts or
training lead duties, deviate from time actually spent, the
attorney may request that the Chief Deputy/Director adjust
the credits assigned. The Chief Deputy/Director's decision will
be final.
7.0 CASE WEIGHTED CREDITS
The following case weighted credits shall be assigned to cases within the
court and case types listed:
7.1 ADULT FELONY SUPERIOR COURT
CASE TYPE
CASE WEIGHT CREDITS
HOMICIDE AND ATTEMPTED HOMICIDE, 3 STRIKES,
CLASS A SEX OFFENSES
3.0
CLASS B & C SEX OFFENSES, ROBBERY FIRST,
BURGLARY FIRST, ASSAULT FIRST
2.0
OTHER FELONIES
1.0
FAST TRACK
0.5
FAST TRACK CONVERTED TO FULL CASE
0.5
SSOSA/DOSA CONTESTED REVOCATION HEARING
0.5
NGRI & POST -CONVICTION
0.5
FUGITIVE
0.5
DRUG COURT
1.25/month
MENTAL HEALTH COURT
0.75/month
TRAINING LEAD
1.25/month
FIRST APPEARANCE/ARRAIGNMENT ROTATION
1.0/month
7.2 DISTRICT COURT - NO WEIGHTING
CASE TYPE
CASE WEIGHT CREDITS
MISDEMEANORS
1.0
CALENDAR ROTATION
6.5/month
MENTAL HEALTH COURT
2.0/month
7.3 JUVENILE COURT
CASE TYPE
CASE WEIGHT CREDITS
CLASS A FELONIES AND ALL SEX OFFENSES
2.0
ALL OTHER CASES
1.0
DIVERSION ADVICE APPOINTMENTS
0.25
DETENTION & RRC CALENDARS
1.5/month
ARRAIGNMENT CALENDAR
1.0/month
PROBATION CALENDAR
1.0/month
TRUANCY CALENDAR
1.0/month
7.4 INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENTS - NO WEIGHTING
7.5 MIXED CASELOAD CREDITS
7.3.1 One adult felony credit equals approximately 12 hours of work.
One adult misdemeanor credit equals approximately 4 hours
of work. One juvenile credit equals approximately 7.2 hours of
work. One involuntary commitment credit equals
approximately 7.2 hours of work.
7.3.2 one adult felony credit = three adult misdemeanor credits =
two juvenile credits = two involuntary commitment credits